1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to oral prophylactic and more particularly to a brush configured for simultaneous bristle engagement with occlusal, buccal and lingual tooth surfaces as well as adjacent gingival tissue.
2. Related History
The prior patents of the Applicant herein, patent Des. 273,153 issued Mar. 27, 1984 and patent Des. 315,450, issued Mar. 19, 1991 disclosed oral prophylactic configured with bristles for simultaneous engagement with occlusal, buccal and lingual tooth surfaces. Both of the aforementioned patents illustrated a toothbrush having a spine with bristles for contacting occlusal tooth surfaces and a pair of opposed side panels, each of which included bristles arrayed substantially along parallel axes which were also perpendicular to the axis of the spine.
Such arrangement assured simultaneous bristle contact with occlusal, buccal and lingual tooth surfaces, provided the brush head size, bristle length and gap between the opposed side panel bristle ends were anatomically configured to conform with the oral cavity and tooth dimensions of the intended user.
Brushes of the configuration shown in patent Des. 315,450 have been anatomically dimensioned for and commercialized in conjunction with the market comprising young children. Among the factors which influenced consumer acceptance were parental concerns that their children were not properly brushing. Such brush configuration assured thorough cleansing with the parent or child only required to employ a simple reciprocal stroke without twisting or rotating the brush.
It has been found, particularly with respect to adults, that improper brushing techniques lead to various maladies, not only relating to tooth structure, e.g. tooth decay, but, also periodontal diseases. Further, it was difficult to assure beneficial bristle contact against gingival tissue with the bristle configurations shown in patents Des. 315,450 and Des. 273,153.
When bristles of uniform length were utilized in toothbrushes configured for simultaneous engagement with multiple tooth and gingival surfaces, the stiffness of bristles contacting gingival tissue often resulted in trauma and concomitant bleeding. When soft bristles were employed, the requisite stiffness for tooth surface cleansing was not attainable.
It has been proposed in patent Des. 289,230 to employ bristles of different lengths in a single multi-sided brush, such construction required costly and difficult angular mounting of bristle bundles and commercial manufacture of such brush was apparently impractical. Other approaches required an awkward axial rotative manipulation in order to cleanse teeth such as exemplified by the toothbrush disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,131,967 which comprised a brush head having two opposed sides projecting from a yoke.